Totalitr: Vi r Eliten 12″

Description

NOTE: All of our copies are on orange vinyl.

Re-press of the 2007 Final Album by TOTALITR, repressed on Three different colors of Vinyl ( Orange, Red and white) in a stoughton Gatefold Tip-on Sleeve, pressed at RTI. Mailorder copies come with a Totalitar button and Promo poster.

Rampaging D-beat hardcore punk, Stockholms TOTALITR are one of the longest running and most renowned classic Swedish hardcore bands from the 1980s, with almost twenty releases since their beginnings in 1985. Respected for their challenging political lyrics, Integrity and continual inventive spins on a brutal and straightforward formula of rock-driven, blasting hardcore.

After a series of Farewell shows in Sweden and in the U.S. in 2003, TOTALITR decided to do one final recording and album- Vi Ar Eliten (We are the Elite) which features seventeen rock-hard tracks. A combustive steamroller of their trademark desperate angry vocals, pounding rhythm section and searing guitar leads, their third full length album is one of their finest. From the original Metal work , Mastered at Fantasy Studios by George Horn.

Our take: My favorite Totalitr record tends to be the one Im listening to at the moment, but the bands final album, 2007s Vi Ar Eliten, holds a special place in my heart. Its the first really, the onlyTotalitr record I got to digest as it came out. While Totalitr was well known in 2007, Vi Ar Eliten still felt like a bit of a secret. Most bands who I thought of as Totalitrs at the time (bands like Wolfbrigade, Victims, and Skitsystem) were playing more polished and/or metallic music, but beneath the head-scratching cover art was perhaps Totalitrs best music. First of all, the production on Vi Ar Eliten is incredible the drums are pummeling, the tones on everything else are biting yet full and present, and the mix is just perfect, raw and ripping yet crystal clear. Its what a hardcore record should sound like to me. Wrapped in that production are a heap of tracks that find Totalitr doing their usual thing with the usual great results: a mix of full-throttle rippers, super catchy mid-paced songs, in-between songs like En Av Dom Som Dom Skmtar Om that are the best of both worlds, and a couple of unexpected moments like the rocked-out intro to Overtid, Overfld Mot Fr Tidig Dd. One thing that seems unique to me about Vi Ar Eliten, though, is how much lead guitar we hear. At least half the tracks find the guitarist Lanchy taking center stage, sometimes during the traditional solo section (oh man, the Buzzcocks-inspired two-note solo on Nej Vi Ska Inte Ha Nt FUCK!), and sometimes at unexpected moments, like the weird little lead break in the title track that starts the record, a moment that always make the hair on my neck stand up. Theres just so much to love with Vi Ar Eliten, and even after listening to it for 15 years its nowhere near getting stale. Im pleased Prank has brought it back into print, and as usual theyve done an incredible job, with meticulous detail to the records visual and sonic presentation and some subtle upgrades that still feel true to the original. This is one of those records that I just dont want to imagine life without.